1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a camera having a front cover which is attached to a main body of the camera including a photographing mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various compact cameras are put in a market and are diversified as to not only its functions but also its design regarding a shape and a color thereof. In view of such a tendency, it is considered to divide a front cover attached to a main body, in which a photographing mechanism is incorporated, into two parts. By constituting the front cover in this way., is improved degree of freedom for external design concerning a color, a shape and so forth.
For example, a camera described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,898 (counterpart of Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. 9-211627) includes a front cover constituted of two parts which are an inner frame and a decorative cover plate. The inner frame is made of plastic on account of its workability and easy attachment. The decorative cover plate is made of a metal having superior texture and is attached to an outer face of the inner frame. This inner frame is provided with a frame member, a grip portion and so forth. The frame member is formed so as to surround a main body of the camera and is directly attached to the main body. The grip portion is for holding the camera. A front face of the inner frame is formed with openings for baring a taking lens, a viewfinder, a flash unit and so forth. The outside of the inner frame and the inside of the cover plate are formed in a similar shape except the grip portion to be joined with each other. The cover plate is attached to the outside of the inner frame so as to be superimposed thereon. For this reason, the cover plate is also formed with openings corresponding to the openings of the inner frame.
By constructing the front cover with two parts in the above way, the degree of freedom for external design is improved. At the same time, sufficient strength required of the front cover is secured by superimposing the two parts.
However, superimposing the two parts means increase of a thickness of an overlapping portion so that it is obstructed to reduce a size (depth) of the camera. In other words, it is likely to lose basic characteristics of compactness inherent in the compact camera.
In view of the foregoing, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a camera having high degree of freedom for its external design.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a camera whose size may be reduced.
In order to achieve the above and other objects, the camera according to the present invention comprises a front cover which is attached to a front face of a main body including a photographing mechanism. The front cover is formed with openings for baring a taking lens, a viewfinder, a flash unit and so forth.
The front cover comprises a cover member and a base member. The cover member is formed with the respective openings and is attached to the base member constituted of a frame portion and a support portion. The frame portion is formed so as to surround the side faces of the main body. The support portion includes a supporting region for supporting the cover member. The supporting region abuts on a part of the inside of the cover member.
The almost whole front face of the base member is adapted to be an opening. Owing to this, the base member and the cover member are prevented from overlapping with each other except the supporting region. Hence, a thickness of the front cover may be reduced so that the camera may be downsized.
Meanwhile, since the front cover is constituted of the two parts, degree of freedom for external design of the camera may be improved.